Lacrosse Bruising Exercise In Sport

August 13, 1985|By Paul Heidelberg, Staff Writer

BOYNTON BEACH — The sport of lacrosse can get into your blood.

Members of the Palm Beach Lacrosse Club love it so much that they play a version of box lacrosse on an unforgiving asphalt court at Santaluces High. On hot, muggy South Florida evenings, club members pay an activity fee of $1 apiece to get onto the makeshift field.

The court, bordered by chain-link fences on three sides and the wall of a racquetball court on the other, is tough; players wear shorts with no knee pads, and a fall to the ground can be a bruising experience. As in field lacrosse, box lacrosse players wear heavy gloves and helmets with face masks.

Box lacrosse gets its name from the shape of the playing surface, which is square and about half the length of the 110-yard-by-60-yard grass lacrosse field.

Lacrosse was invented by American Indians. Players, 10 to a team in field lacrosse, use sticks with nets attached to shoot a hard rubber ball into one of two goals. Palm Beach Lacrosse Club members play field lacrosse in the winter but prefer in the summer to play box lacrosse, which has been played professionally indoors in the Northeast.

Six to eight players usually turn out for the games at Santaluces High.

``It`s too hot to run up and down a lacrosse field, and it`s cheaper to play box lacrosse,`` said John Stevens, who has served as the club`s president for two years. ``We play at night and use the available light that spills over from the racquetball courts.

``Plus, box is a different game from field lacrosse. In field lacrosse, the ball hits the ground, and it doesn`t have much action. In box, the ball can be played off the walls and floor, which offers more action. The ball is always in play in box.``

The danger of falling to the asphalt is just part of the game, Stevens said.

``Usually, once or twice during a game, somebody hits the ground pretty hard,`` he said. ``But that can happen in half-court or full-court basketball, too. It`s not that bad.``

Some club members go the distance for the weekly pickup games. Tim McLean, who played college lacrosse at the University of Massachusetts, drives from Coral Springs, and Dennis Murphy travels from Port St. Lucie.

``Box lacrosse is probably the most vicious game played anywhere,`` McLean said. ``Cross checking is legal, and there`s a lot of contact out there. Lacrosse is a great sport, but a lot of people here in Florida do not even know what it is. At colleges in the Northeast -- in Boston, New York and Maryland -- it is a major sport.

``It can be frustrating, but you just try to get some support for the sport, you just try to spread the word. People who come out and watch the sport for the first time really enjoy it -- they`re fascinated by it.``

During the winter, the Palm Beach team fields 35 players and plays against teams from Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Florida International University and the University of Miami.

Several Palm Beach County high schools also field lacrosse teams.

``The physical exertion in field lacrosse requires about the same conditioning soccer does,`` said Tim Sanders of Boynton Beach. ``Running 60- yard sprints can be pretty exhausting. Box lacrosse is more like playing basketball.``

With only six or eight players at a box lacrosse game, there are none to spare for goalkeepers, so members of the club bring along two substitutes to their pickup games. The ``goalies`` are large pieces of cardboard with two 8- inch square holes cut out of each board. To score, the lacrosse ball must be shot through the holes.

``We use them during practice in the winter for field lacrosse, too,`` said Stevens. ``Even if we have a full team out, we`re still short a goalkeeper.``

Stevens, who competed in the 880-yard run on his college track team at Boston University, had never played lacrosse when he saw a newspaper article about the Palm Beach club four years ago.

``I called up the president at the time and told him I was interested in working out with the team,`` Stevens said.

``I went to a couple of practices and really enjoyed it, and I`ve been devoted to it ever since.``